There might not be any starting pitcher in the game who is more underrated than the Mets’ Dillon Gee. The righthander delivered his best effort of the season on Sunday, tossing eight shutout innings against the Miami Marlins to help the Mets take the series two games to one.

Gee, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Monday, struck out five and confounded the Marlins with his signature changeup and a slider that’s become a great out pitch for him. Whenever he’s on the mound, he gives the team a chance to win and the baseball odds at Allpro confirm it.

“It was one of those good days,” Gee said. “I just try to go out there each time it’s my turn and do the best I can and get as deep as I can, and give us a chance to win. As long as we win at the end of the day, I’m a happy guy.”

Despite having thrown 110 pitches, Gee wanted to pitch the ninth, but was told no by manager Terry Collins.

Opponents are now hitting .193 against Gee this season. He has an 0.86 ERA and 0.86 WHIP in his last three starts, in which he’s allowed only two extra-base hits.

“He got us to where we wanted to get to,” Collins said, “That was pretty much the end.”

The Atlanta Braves don’t have Chipper Jones anymore, but still represent the yardstick in which the Mets like to measure themselves.

There is no longer a rivalry for National League East supremacy, and what there once was had been dominated by the Braves. Kenny Rogers’ wildness and Armando Benitez ensured trumped Robin Ventura’s grand slam single.

DAVIS: Still here.

Arguably, the Mets’ greatest moment in the rivalry – outside winning the 1969 NLCS – was Mike Piazza’s thunderbolt after September 11.

The Braves, who paid no attention to preseason speculation of Washington running away with the division and going straight to the World Series, are in first place, 4 ½ games ahead of the Nationals and 10 up on the Mets.

Atlanta is in for the start of a three-game series tonight, and it will be odd not to have Jones around to boo. Even so, the Braves might be the best run team in the National League and they have the same blueprint.

The Braves have always been about fundamentals, pitching and power, and this season is no different with Justin Upton (14 homers), B.J. Upton and Jason Heyward, an outfield the Mets could only dream about.

Meanwhile, the Mets have been listless offensively, scoring more than four runs only once since beating the Braves, 7-5, on May 3. Their hitters are striking out roughly ten times a game and it is only a matter of time before Ike Davis (.147 and on a 1-for-38 slide) is shipped out to the minors.

The Mets, losers of 10 of their last 12 games, have Jeremy Hefner, Dillon Gee and Shaun Marcum, who are a combined 2-15 going for them. Hefner and Marcum comprise 40 percent of the rotation and have no victories.

Once 10-9, the Mets are 17-27 and in a free fall towards irrelevance. Prior to the Pirates series, when the Mets were 13-17, I wrote where the next two weeks could define their season and that is coming to fruition.

The Mets lost three of four to Pittsburgh and St. Louis in consecutive series, won two or three in Chicago, and swept in a three-game series at home by Cincinnati.

After the Braves come four straight with the Yankees, before closing the month at Miami.

June doesn’t get easier as the Mets have six games against the Nationals, three with St. Louis, five in Atlanta (includes a make-up game), three in Philadelphia, two in Chicago against the White Sox, and they fly to Colorado for a one-game make-up on an off-day.

By the time they conclude a nine-game road trip leading into the All-Star break, there is a very realistic chance the Mets could be 20 games under .500 if not 20 games out of first place.

The Mets’ long summer is getting longer and we’re not even through with May.

ESPN reports the Mets will promote outfielder Andrew Brown for this weekend’s series at Atlanta.

Brown’s numbers at Triple-A Las Vegas are .367 with two homers and 27 RBI. The Mets’ corresponding move could be either returning Juan Lagares or Collin Cowgill to Triple-A.

Brown played in 57 games the past two seasons with St. Louis and Colorado, where his numbers were hardly eye opening at .224 with five homers and 14 RBI.

Mets right fielders are hitting a combined .219 with one homer and 12 RBI. And, all that comes with a .288 on-base percentage.

The Mets’ anemic performance in right field has been brought into focus with the team in Atlanta and the Braves featuring Justin Upton. The Mets had a shot at Upton when Arizona shopped him over the winter, but they did not want to part with Zack Wheeler.

The Mets’ unwillingness to part with prospects and/or draft picks is also why they did not go after Braves’ free-agent Michael Bourne because they did not want to give up the compensatory draft pick.

Meanwhile, the Mets’ top-rated outfield prospect Brandon Nimmo is in Single-A and not close to being ready.

HARVEY RECOGNIZED:Matt Harvey, Sunday’s scheduled starter, was named the National League’s Pitcher of the Month for April.

Harvey is 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in six starts, with him getting no-decisions in his last two. In 40.1 innings, Harvey has 46 strikeouts and has issued 12 walks.

The last Mets pitcher to win the monthly award was R.A. Dickey in June 2012.

The Mets have lost their season series to the Braves in six straight years, and only once since 1997. … The Mets were 6-12 last season against the Braves, including 2-7 at Turner Field. … Overall, they are 325-400-1 against the Braves, including 140-189 in Atlanta.